Sr. Principal Technical Program Manager

Description

Join Axon and be a Force for Good.

At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other.

Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

Your Impact

As a Senior Principal Technical Program Manager on the Real-Time Operations team, you will lead some of Axon's most complex, ambiguous and high-risk programs across R&D and the broader company.

You will own organization-level and company-level initiatives where success requires alignment across multiple pillars, executive stakeholders and, in many cases, multiple TPMs. You will be the person senior leadership turns to when the work has no obvious owner, the solution is not yet known and the consequences of getting it wrong are significant.

You will identify problems and opportunities before requirements exist, define the strategy, translate that strategy into an executable plan and drive alignment around the people, resources and commitments required to deliver it.

You will operate as a strategic advisor to senior product and engineering leadership, including the RTO SVP, CTO and their directs. You will tell leaders what they need to hear, surface risks before they become issues and help shape both short-term execution and long-term technical direction.

At this level, your scope extends beyond delivering an individual program. You will lead programs with multiple TPMs, establish mechanisms that improve execution across organizations and raise the standard for technical program management across Axon.

The Real-Time Operations team builds, deploys and maintains products for emergency responders, specifically built around the Axon Fusus platform. Because every second counts for our customers, any production outage, functional regression or performance degradation that lasts even a few minutes can have a real impact.

The ideal candidate combines deep technical judgment, strong executive presence and the ability to drive accountability across organizations without relying on direct authority.

Responsibilities

• Lead Axon's most complex cross-organization technical programs, including initiatives that span multiple R&D pillars and business functions.
• Own organization-level or company-level outcomes from early strategy and problem definition through execution, launch and post-production.
• Lead programs involving multiple TPMs and establish clear ownership, operating mechanisms and accountability across the program.
• Identify high-impact problems before requirements exist and translate them into strategy, technical direction and executable plans.
• Drive alignment across engineering, product, business, legal, information security, policy and other company organizations.
• Own program plans, schedules, resourcing strategies and change management across multiple organizations.
• Drive company-level accountability for commitments, dependencies and critical milestones.
• Foresee systemic risks and organizational dependencies and establish mechanisms that prevent them from becoming execution failures.
• Define success metrics for large-scale initiatives and ensure leaders use those metrics to make roadmap and investment decisions.
• Own or guide end-to-end technical requirements across complex systems and multiple engineering organizations.
• Bring senior engineering leaders together on architecture, system boundaries and difficult technical trade-offs.
• Challenge technical assumptions and ensure decisions involving data stores, caching, system architecture, technology stacks and business logic are made with long-term consequences in mind.
• Lead strategic technical discussions around scalability, reliability, availability and operational resilience.
• Advise Directors, VPs, SVPs and executive leaders on portfolio strategy, execution risk, prioritization and where TPM capacity should be applied.
• Write and present strategy documents that shape the short- and long-term direction of your space.
• Present strategy, execution health and technical trade-offs to the RTO SVP, company CTO and their directs.
• Lead programs that move into novel or previously unexplored areas where solutions are unknown, risk is high and failure could have significant customer impact.
• Lead initiatives that extend beyond R&D and require alignment across broader company organizations.
• Define and standardize TPM artifacts, tools, operating mechanisms and role expectations across the organization.
• Create mechanisms that improve decision-making, accountability and execution even when you are not directly involved.
• Raise the bar for how Axon applies AI to accelerate execution, program management and organizational effectiveness.
• Mentor Principal TPMs and other senior technical leaders.
• Interview and calibrate candidates through Principal TPM, Staff Engineer and Director levels.
• Educate leaders and teams across R&D on program management practice, technical execution and organizational mechanisms.
• Work effectively across multiple teams, organizations and time zones.
• What Success Looks Like
• Within 90 days: You have taken ownership of a company-critical initiative or portfolio, developed a clear assessment of its actual state and surfaced risks, dependencies or structural issues that leadership is actively addressing.
• Within 6 months: You have established strong cross-organization operating mechanisms, commitments are holding and senior leaders are using your strategy and reporting to make roadmap, resourcing and prioritization decisions.
• Within 12 months: You have delivered meaningful results across organizations, created mechanisms that have scaled beyond your immediate programs and materially raised the effectiveness of technical program management across your space.
• What You Bring
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Science or a related field. Master's or PhD optional.
• 12 to 15+ years of experience managing complex software or hardware/software delivery.
• 2 to 3 years of experience as a technical individual contributor, engineer or equivalent hands-on technical role, or comparable technical depth developed through your career.
• A proven record of leading highly complex, high-risk programs across multiple organizations with significant executive visibility.
• Experience leading programs with multiple TPMs, engineering organizations and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience driving alignment and accountability at the organization or company level without relying on direct reporting authority.
• Deep technical judgment and the ability to engage credibly with Principal and Distinguished Engineers, engineering VPs and executive leadership.
• Ability to evaluate end-to-end architecture, identify the long-term cost of poor technical decisions and distinguish meaningful technical risk from inflated or incomplete information.
• Mastery of program management practice and the ability to select, adapt and teach multiple delivery methodologies based on the needs of the organization.
• A demonstrated record of creating mechanisms that improve execution across multiple teams or organizations.
• Experience advising senior executives and shaping strategy with SVP- and CTO-level stakeholders.
• Experience writing strategy documents that influence short- and long-term technical or organizational direction.
• Proven ability to define the problem and establish direction in areas where requirements, ownership or solutions do not yet exist.
• Experience leading novel initiatives where the technical path is uncertain and the consequences of failure are significant.
• Strong executive communication skills and the ability to challenge senior leaders respectfully and directly.
• Strong influencing, mentoring and coaching skills.
• Experience scaling processes across multiple organizations and time zones.
• Preference for experience with enterprise SaaS or other mission-critical software.
• A connection to Axon's values and our mission to tackle public safety's biggest challenges.
• How You Operate
• Own It. You take responsibility for outcomes that span teams, pillars and organizations.
• Join Forces. You create alignment among senior leaders with competing priorities.
• Be Obsessed. You stay anchored to customer and mission impact, particularly when execution becomes difficult.
• Aim Far. You identify problems before they are fully understood and help define where the organization should go.
• Expect Candor. You challenge senior and executive leaders respectfully, clearly and with strong supporting judgment.
• Mechanism Builder. You create systems, tools and processes that improve execution at scale and continue working without your constant involvement.
• Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit https://www.axon.com/careers .
• Base Pay Range
• $207,000 - $331,200 USD
• Don’t meet every single requirement? That's ok. At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long-term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. We are also committed to building diverse teams that reflect the communities we serve.
• Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they check every box in the job description. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
• Important Notes
• The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all duties, responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job. The job description may change or be supplemented at any time in accordance with business needs and conditions.
• Some roles may also require legal eligibility to work in a firearms environment.
• Axon’s mission is to Protect Life and is committed to the well-being and safety of its employees as well as Axon’s impact on the environment. All Axon employees must be aware of and committed to the appropriate environmental, health, and safety regulations, policies, and procedures. Axon employees are empowered to report safety concerns as they arise and activities potentially impacting the environment.
• We are an equal opportunity employer that promotes justice, advances equity, values diversity and fosters inclusion. We’re committed to hiring the best talent — regardless of race, creed, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances — and empowering all of our employees so they can do their best work. If you have a disability or special need that requires assistance or accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email recruitingops@axon.com. Please note that this email address is for accommodation purposes only. Axon will not respond to inquiries for other purposes.
• Phishing alert: Axon will never ask you to pay for any part of the hiring process, including training, equipment, or background checks. We do not make job offers via text message, WhatsApp, or instant messaging platforms without a formal interview process. All legitimate job openings are listed on our official careers page at https://www.axon.com/careers . If you receive a suspicious offer or outreach from an email address that is not @axon.com , or if you are asked for sensitive personal information (bank details, Social Security Number) prematurely, please ignore the message and report it to recruitingops@axon.com .

Conditions

Reports to: Sr. Director of Technical Program Management

Direct reports : None